A/N: I'm so sorry, don't hate me for not updating in so long! I feel awful. The short story is I was persuaded to do sciences at my school in my last two years by teachers and parents but I recently rediscovered my love of writing and decided to change my subjects to english :) After all my exams are done, I will be updating MUCH more, I swear. Also to new readers, hi! :) I hope you've enjoyed my story so far! -Effy xxx

Secret No. 27: It was me who got that blackcurrant stain on Amy’s immaculate dress a few months ago. I told her it was a first year.

My birthday has been following the same order for the last three years. I wake up to Amy, Nina and Marissa bouncing on my bed and squealing as I unravel presents. Then Amy manages to get the whole of Gryffindor table singing ‘Happy Birthday’ as we eat our breakfast and always, always, she persuades us all to sneak out of the grounds to Hogsmeade, even on a school night, and get slowly and steadily wasted.

This year it is different. This year I am excited for my birthday, like a little kid at Christmas. In fact, I even had trouble sleeping last night, my heart fluttering every time I thought of the Hide and Seek game.

My eyes lift open in the morning but, to my surprise, none of my friends sit on my bed, cross-legged, and beaming down at me with curiously wrapped objects in their hands. I sit up, staring at the sleeping figures of Marissa and Amy, feeling a little put-out.

Okay, so maybe they didn’t take it the best way when I told them the plan on my birthday – in fact, Marissa even seemed to have tears in her eyes when I said there’d be ‘no alcohol’ – but the fact that Scorpius organising it really seemed to win Amy over. It is another tick in the book for the ‘Scorpius plan.’

Frowning slightly, I climb out of bed and get dressed, giving the Marissa and Nina bundles one last fleeting glance before quietly slipping out of the room. Thankfully, the atmosphere improves once I am out of my room. I enter the common room to a burst of applause and cheering as ‘happy birthday’s’ echo around the room, lead by my little brother and Louis.

It’s nice to know how much I am loved. But who could blame them, really? I am so damn lovable.

My thoughts are interrupted by Lily barging into me and squeezing her little arms around me. Her mouth opens and I smile down at her, readily awaiting the declarations of love and the idol worshipping.

“Rosie, can I borrow your green dress?”

Oh, well, fuck you.

“It’s in my trunk,” I sigh and she squeals, squeezes me once last time, and bounds up the stairs I just came down.

She is quickly replaced by both Hugo and Louis who drag me out of the common room to go have breakfast, their eager chatter filling my ears.

“Rose, I’m inviting all my friends to hide and-”

I cast a sidelong glance at Hugo. “Don’t even think-”

“As much as I hate Malfoy, it is your birthday-”

Now I look up at Louis, a slight frown on my face. “Oh, come on, you don’t-”

“You’ll get your presents at breakfast-”

See, this is what really perks me up. The gift of giving is such a joyous occasion. “Well, why are you walking so slowly, then?!”

Scorpius POV

Rose Weasley is distracting me. Again.

It’s not because, since she hugged me after the match, I see Rose’s smug face every damn time I close my eyes. And do you know what else I discovered that day?

That Rose fucking Weasley smells of God damn roses.

The irony is not amusing.

She’s distracting me because I can hear her snorting from here. And she’s half-way across the Great fucking Hall. I can just imagine her clutching her sides as she laughs, her nose scrunching up so her freckles become even more pronounced, with her long red hair falling down her back. Every so often, that same damn hair would catch the light and blind half the room.

Sure enough, as I glance up from my homework, there she is, hand over her mouth as she tries to stifle her laughs with her Shit-For-Brains friend gesturing wildly next to her.

My eyes narrow to slits as Rose lies face down on the table, surrounded by plenty of unwrapped presents, the wrapping paper littered around her as her whole body shakes with laughter. I’m sure she’s probably too busy in her own ‘Rose Is-The-Greatest Weasley’ world to notice the fairly obvious fact that there are other people in the hall. Who are trying to work without Rose Weasley’s honking and snorting distracting them.

Rose suddenly sits up, her face composed though a little flushed, and picks her quill up to continue writing. Her eyes snap up then and lock with mine. She seems surprised at first, her eyebrows rising considerably. I continue to glare at her, my right hand paused above my parchment.

Then she does something that completely throws me off. She smiles that smile – the infamous Rose Weasley smile – that seems to light up her whole face and the room in turn. The kind of smile that is so bright and infectious and brings me back to the day she won the Quidditch match. And of how soft and warm she was in my arms and how I remembered thinking the last time we were this close she didn’t have a bum or boobs-

Fuck, I hate it when Rose Weasley smiles.

My scowl deepens and Rose smirks at me, before bringing a delicate finger up to her chest and pointing at the giant ‘17’ badge. I allow myself a small smile because, yes, I knew it was Rose Weasley’s birthday and, yes, Hide and Seek was still going to happen. Word had spread and now, not even I had any idea how many people were joining in.

It’s at that exact moment that Zoe slips her tiny arms around my waist and I jump about a foot in the air. Al sniggers and I shoot him a dirty look.

“You know, you’re face is going to get stuck permanently like that,” Al informs me as he closes his book, which only makes my frown deepen.

Zoe blinks up at me, having finally released me from her viper-like grip, and I notice how much mascara cakes her eyelashes. “Like what?”

Al gestures to my face lazily. “He’s been scowling all morning.”

“I have not.”

“You have.”

“I have not.”

“Yes, you have.”

I miss my cue then because, beyond Al’s gigantic head, Rose shuts her book, stands in her personalised Weasley jumper – something nobody except Rose can pull off – and stretches her arms high above her head as she yawns. As a result, her already short skirt rides up a little, revealing her long, toned legs, capturing the attention of every male in the room. A blush creeps its way up my neck and I have a feeling of wanting to cover Rose up with my jumper conflicting with the stronger feeling of wanting to look – no, glare­ – at her at little more.

I do try not to admire Rose as she walks away but it’s difficult. Something I’d never thought I’d say.

It’s only when Al clicks his fingers in my face that I come back to the table with a start, trying not to show the guilt on my face as I risk a glance at Zoe. Her mouth is downturned in a pout and she is not looking at me, instead down at her plate as her fork twirls around her bacon.

Note to self; saying ‘distracted’ in another way is not different. It is, in fact, exactly the same.

Al’s left eyebrow rises even higher. “By what?”

I indicate the rolls of paper in front of me. “Do you not remember the foot long essay we’ve got to do for Charms?”

Al is an interfering prat but it will take a mastermind to make me slip up and admit that maybe, just maybe, I stared at Rose a little too long.

Rose POV

The excitement is mounting. The game begins in less than 15 minutes and, already, the hall is packed with people shuffling about and whispering to each other. The dress code seems to be ranging from various types of pyjama outfits to jeans and tee-shirts before finally stopping at formal. I glance down at Amy’s mini dress and heels and know she has never played this game before. My leggings and flats are a much more sensible option for sneaking around. A candle flickering casts shadows around the room and I reach out to grab Amy’s hand.

“Merlin, Rose, can you not control yourself?” She rolls her eyes, but she is smiling and I grin back at her.

Out of the corner of my eye, I see someone staring at me and I turn, catching Scorpius’s eye. He does not look away as others would do. Instead, his silver eyes hold mine and his lips lift in a smirk as he taps his arm, signalling the time. I give him a small nod, beaming my brightest at him. The smirk is gone, replaced by an uneasy look.

But he climbs onto the table and, automatically, the busy hall is hushed. “Welcome,” Scorpius says in a theatrical voice as he holds his arms out wide, “to Rose Weasley’s Hide and Seek birthday game!”

This is followed by a few woo’s and cheers and Scorpius flashes his teeth at the crowd. They seem whiter and bigger in the candlelight.

“The rules are simple,” he continues and the crowd seem to be hanging on his every word, “don’t get caught. By the seeker, the professors or the prefects.” here he smirks at me. I smirk back. We haven’t forgotten our commitments. “Once you are caught, return to your common room. Any hiding place goes, except the common rooms.”

A silence hangs in the air. The crowd look on expectantly and Scorpius, looking smug and proud, stares back. Eventually a small girl raises her hand. “Who’s the seeker?” She asks in a timid voice.

She is answered by the clambering of someone else onto the table and I avert my attention from the girl to the figure on the table. Naomi is smiling shyly around the room and says, in the most confident voice I’ve heard her use, “I am. You have 5 minutes to hide.”

Mayhem ensues.

I am not kidding. If you were to look up the word in the dictionary, there would be the seventy or so of us, frantically heading towards the one door in a bustle of panic. It reminds me of Christmas morning at the Weasleys, with millions of little kids rushing for the presents. Amy’s grip loosens in my hand and she slips away through the crowd. I look up surprised, and notice her weave her way towards Scorpius, who is still nearby the table, a look of amusement on his face.

Even though I am being jostled left, right and centre, I know immediately what she’s doing.

Amy’s flirting with him. I can see it in the way she’s leaning towards him, her arms together to push her cleavage up. I can see why she chose that particular outfit and why she seemed content with staying at Hogwarts for my birthday. And I can see the way Scorpius fixes her with an unimpressed look, eyes, to my immense relief, firmly on her face.

Zoe also does not look impressed as she sidles up to her boyfriend. Her hand reaches towards his, probably to show that he is, in fact, still in a relationship, but, and this is what surprised me the most, he avoids her deftly, running that hand through his blonde hair instead.

Amy notices, too. I see her triumphant expression and the way she tosses her hair over her shoulders. My mouth drops open in shock and I turn towards the door, to hide my expression from Scorpius. Zoe flounces out before me and I follow, my mind reeling. Scorpius can’t be falling for Amy’s tricks, can he?

I would expect it from anyone else but not Scorpius who openly despises her.

Not Scorpius.

It is hard work looking for a hiding place when I am so damn confused. This doesn’t add up. Scorpius would never fall for Amy, no matter how hard she tries.

The corridors suddenly feel stuffy and the dust feels like its clogging up my lungs. I head for the door to the grounds, my wand brightly lit to guide me. Once I am outside, my head clears and I take a few moments just to breathe in the crisp air as I survey my surroundings. No one seems to be out here, or rather, no one has lit wands except me and the winds blows through the trees, masking any footsteps or heavy breathing.

I inch slowly down the hill, heading towards a clump of trees near the lake. It doesn’t register with me how eerie Hogwarts grounds are at night and I don’t bat an eyelid as I approach the trees. It’s a little cold and I wrap my jacket tighter around me, trying to keep warm. I don’t know how long it’s been since Naomi began counting. I lost count somewhere around Amy dropping my hand.

Once again, the whole Scorpius/Amy debacle is running through my mind and if I hadn’t been so preoccupied I probably would have noticed that I’m not the only person out here. The sharp snap of a twig makes me whirl around and it’s in the space of two seconds that various thoughts rush through my head; werewolf, vampires, monster, kidnappers.

My heart thumps hard, a feeling that seems to reverberate around by whole body. My wand is held in front of me in a clammy hand, its bright tip outlining the figure of a person, leant against a tree. “Who’s there?” My voice calls out, somewhat shakily I must admit.

I’m answered by a familiar snigger. My wand lowers and I plant a scowl on my face. “Scorpius, you nearly gave me a heart attack!”

He lets out another little laugh and takes a few steps towards me, so I can see his face and not just a random silhouette. “You are such a drama queen,” Scorpius says in a low voice, flashing me his usual smirk.

My eyes narrow, “I am not a drama queen.”

His only reply is to laugh in my face and, I can’t help it, a bubble of anger rises inside me. I step towards him so we are inches apart and poke him hard in the chest. “Now, listen here, you arrogant-”

Scorpius head suddenly snaps sharply to the side and, clamping his hand around my arm, he drags me towards the tree he was leaning against just moments earlier.

I open my mouth, stumbling over the uneven ground as he pulls me, “What-”

“Shh,” Scorpius hisses and guides me around so that my back is up against the rough bark of the tree and, placing his hand over my mouth, he stands in front of me in a sort of protective manner, looking beyond the tree, back towards the school ground. “Naomi’s here.”

I’m sure if his hand wasn’t over my mouth I would be opening and closing it in shock but, instead, I stare up at him with wide eyes. My mouth has gone really dry and I want to swallow but I just keep looking into Scorpius’s silver eyes and thinking the light from the castle make them appear gold.

He’s so close to me I can feel his body heat pulsing off him and, although I was only a little cold earlier, my body feels like its on fire now. Scorpius’s eyes flicker down to me and my heart thumps again in my chest. His hand drops and I take the opportunity to lick my lips.

Scorpius steps back and clears his throat, looking uncomfortable. “She’s gone,” he says as he avoids my gormless gaze. He shuffles around a bit, his hands deep in his trouser pockets, before eventually breaking the silence again, “I... er, believe you were calling me arrogant?”

He flashes me a smile and I take a deep breath, trying to pull myself together. I open my mouth, ready to continue some form of insult, but the words die in my throat as I remember the awkward way in which Scorpius avoided Zoe’s hand. “What did Amy say to you?”

Scorpius’s face is surprised for a moment, before an expression of disgust replaces it. He shakes his head. “It’s not important.”

Normally, someone would take this as a hint to drop the subject but I, Rose Weasley, am not the best at picking up subtle hints. “Then why did you ignore Zoe?”

He looks at me, probably aware of how much attention I pay to him. His mouth opens for a few seconds before he says anything, “That’s none of your business.”

His coldness surprises me and I try to back away from him, but the tree blocks my path. I lift my chin stubbornly and glare at Scorpius. “Whatever,” I snap. “Just stay away from Amy.”

“From Amy?” Scorpius repeats, amused, his lips trying to fight off a smile.

Maybe he doesn’t understand what Amy is capable of so, to show him that I’m not kidding, I lay a hand on his arm and stand to face him, so I can look up into his eyes. “You don’t want to mess with her.”

Scorpius looks down at my hands with a little confusion. Well, I am touching him a little closer than he’d probably want, considering it’s, you know, Scorpius.

“Uh,” he says.

“Listen, she hasn’t forgotten that it was you who told Louis that she cheated on him, and she...” I pause, my eyebrows tensed as I try to avoid mentioning any details of The Plan to him, for his own safety, really. “She might want to get you back,” I say instead.

Scorpius’s gaze flickers from my chest to my eyes. I wonder if he noticed that I had taken another step closer to him while I stand there, heart fluttering as I make note of how delightfully hot my hand feels on his arm.

“Oh, I didn’t know the ‘Great Rose Weasley’ cares,” Scorpius says.

This would usually be my cue to jump in with an equally sarcastic retort. Instead, I cast my eyes down and swallow. “I mean it, Scorpius. I know you probably don’t care what I say, especially after everything that’s happened-”

I let him take his hands from mine but I lock gazes with him, my chin jutting out stubbornly, “Just listen to me.”

His left eyebrow rises and, my breath catching in my throat as he moves even closer to me, says in a low, even voice, “You must have realised by now that nobody, not even your best friend,” here, Scorpius’s hands come up in air quotes, “cares about you, anymore.”

That felt like a punch in the stomach. All the breath comes out of me and I back up into the tree as if Scorpius is aflame and I could feel him burning my body. My eyes are threatening to spill tears and I glare up at Scorpius with, trying to control my quivering lip.

“Get over yourself,” I hiss as I side-step him to escape. “Maybe Amy should fuck you over and then maybe you’d realise that you don’t actually know everything.”

And I give him a hard shove in the chest which, would have thrown anyone else on the floor, but only makes him step back, and begin to stalk off.

And, to my complete surprise, he reaches out and catches my wrist. I try to wrench it out of his grip so he doesn’t see me on the brink of tears, but Scorpius holds on. The next thing I know, Scorpius spins me round so I am back up against the tree and he is staring at me with such intensity I have to look away. His arms have me sort of trapped between him and the tree as they rest on either side of my head.

“I’m sorry,” Scorpius says, looking at me hard, “that was out of order.”

I regard him in stony silence. “You’re a bastard,” I growl, but I make no effort to remove his arms. My heart slams against my ribcage.

He nods slowly, his eyes never once leaving mine. “I know,” Scorpius says and his hands slowly slide down the tree to return to his side. I let out a breath I didn’t know I was holding and I glance up to see Scorpius regarding me with a cocky grin, that familiar glint in his eye. “But you’re a bitch.”

My heart does the familiar pitta-patter and I don’t ignore my instincts any longer, letting my hands place themselves on either side of Scorpius’s face and, automatically, the smirk is replaced by a look of surprise.

Slowly, carefully, I bring my face to his, my heart pounding. I can almost see the cog clicking in his brain as he tries to put together what is happening. He doesn’t pull away though or demand what the hell I think I’m doing. I may have taken advantage the fact that he is frozen by shock to do what I do. Something I’ve wanted to do for three years.

I kiss him, gently placing my lips against his for a few seconds before pulling back and settling down on my feet.

All of a sudden, it is gone and Scorpius is letting out a moan, “God damn you, Rose Weasley.”

His arms snake around my waist, pulling me towards him and then Scorpius Malfoy is kissing me like I have never been kissed in my life. Which is ridiculous, because I’m Rose Weasley.

But somehow never like Scorpius is kissing me right now, in a way that makes my body tingle all over, the my stomach performing regular and frequent acrobatics. My hands find their way around his neck and I’m not so much as leaning against the tree as being pressed up against it, my skin burning where it is in contact with his. Which is pretty much everywhere.

And then, to my utter disappointment and complete surprise, Scorpius stops, pulling his mouth from mine but only leaving a few millimetres distance between my lips and his. He looks down at me, his silver eyes burning into mine, searching them. My lips feel tingly and delightfully swollen and my heart is beating fast.

My hands slips from his neck down to his chest and I can feel his heart beating hard too, faster than mine possibly.

“Rose,” he says, once he can speak again. I love the way my name sounds when he says it and how his strong arms are still firmly around my waist as they trace a small pattern on my lower back.

“Mmm?” I ask, smiling up at him lazily.

“We...” Scorpius pauses, and his eyes drift down towards my mouth. He clears his throat and unwraps his arms from around me, pushing me gently away as he does so. “We can’t do this.”

Once again, I recoil from him. No. No. This isn’t what’s meant to happen.

“Yes, we can,” I reply, a little forcefully. It doesn’t go through my mind what Amy could do with the knowledge of Scorpius and I.

Scorpius looks down at me, his expression unreadable. “I couldn’t do that to-”

“To Zoe?” I cut across him, not even bothering to mask the hurt on my features. “But I thought...” I trail off, biting my lip, as my gaze drifts to the floor. My cheeks burn and, for some ridiculous reason, my eyes well up again.

Scorpius hand reaches down and tucks a stray hair behind my ear. His other hand gently lifts my chin, forcing me to look up at him. His left eyebrow is raised. “I was talking about Al.”

I wrinkle my nose. Really, I should have seen this coming. Al would never be okay with his best friend dating his enemy. It would mean that, Merlin forbid, we’d actually have to be spending more time together than is already forced upon us.

“Al can go shove it up his arse,” I retort and the serious expression on Scorpius’s face vanishes for a moment, but is back all too soon. He offers me a sad sort of smile before turning away from me and it is in that second that makes my chest ache.

This time it’s me who grabs Scorpius’s arm as he leaves. He offers no resistance as I place myself directly in front of him, my hand still squeezing his arm. His face is blank as I stare imploringly up at him, my eyes threatening to brim with tears. “Please, Scorpius,” I whisper.

He doesn’t shake me off like I thought he would. Instead, he takes me in his arms and holds me tight as he places a kiss on the top of my head. “I’m not going to piss Al off like that.”

“Al doesn’t have to know,” I say in a quiet voice and, if it wasn’t for Scorpius tensing up, I would have wondered whether or not he heard me. “Nobody has to know,” I repeat a little louder.

Scorpius pulls back as he tries to read my expression. “Rose...” he says hesitantly before his usual demeanour is back, “I don’t sneak around. I’m not like you.”

I ignore this last dig; the only thing on my mind is Scorpius right now. “Just until everything’s okay with Al.”

I can see him hesitating, as if he is standing on an edge and doesn’t know whether to jump or not. I close the gap between us and stand up on my tip toes to whisper in his ear, “It will just be our little secret.”

This, I see when I pull back, is what sends him over the edge into my arms. Scorpius has a wry expression on his face and my eyes flitter to his lips. He has such nice lips. “What am I going to do with you, Rosie?”

And it’s not the fact that Scorpius has called by the nick-name he used when we were younger, or that he’s noticed the direction of my gaze and his smirk – my favourite smirk – has returned or that I know, any second now, he’s going to kiss me again that makes me want to laugh and cry at the same time. It’s the fact that Scorpius seems to be finally, finally accepting the idea of us together, something I never thought possible. I’ve just got to keep this a secret from Amy long enough for her to get over her stupid grudge and not want me to crush Scorpius and me in turn.

All coherent thoughts leave my mind at the moment because Scorpius’s mouth is on mine and he is kissing me again.

A/N: Oh, so the kiss finally happened! What do you think? I'd really love a review, if you would? There were such lovely reviews when I looked back here after nearly a year (!) and I think that's what really persuaded me to continue writing. I'd love feedback. And I'm going to be writing a small amount each day, the time when I'm not revising for my exams, so hopefully the next chapter won't be too far. -Effy xxx